reduction. ment of redue rated by this state, and liable for the payment of taxes or duties Reduction of on tonnage, imposed by any laws heretofore enacted, shall make charges for transa reduction of their charges for transportation on their local portation on local freight. freight, as fixed by their respective toll sheets, on the first day of February, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, equal to the full amount of the tax or duty chargeable upon such freight or tonnage by the laws aforesaid; the present winter rates between first day of December and the first day of May, Rates. shall be considered as fixed at ninety cents per one hundred pounds for first class, seventy-five cents per one hundred pounds for second class, sixty cents per one hundred pounds for third class, and forty cents per one hundred pounds for fourth class; summer rates between the first day of May and first day of December, in each year, shall be seventy-five cents per one hundred pounds for first class, sixty cents per one hundred pounds for second class, fifty cents per one hundred pounds for third class, and forty cents per one hundred pounds for fourth class, on all trade carried between Philadelphia and Pittsburg; and a Liability upon failure on the part of either of said companies to make such failure to make reduction, shall render the company so neglecting liable to the commonwealth for double the amount of the tonnage tax heretofore chargeable against them upon such trade; and every such company shall, within thirty days after the passage of this act, under a like penalty, file in the office of the auditor general, under the oath of the president or other proper officer, a toll Toll sheet of sheet of their rates of charges for transportation of local freights, rates and stateupon the first day of February, one thousand eight hundred and tion to be filed. sixty-one, accompanied by a statement of the reduction to be made in pursuance of this act; and the said rates, as so reduced, shall be the highest rates that can be charged for the transpor- Limitations of tation of such freight and tonnage by any company accepting the provisions of this act: Further, The Pennsylvania railroad company shall not, at any time, charge or collect rates on any description of freights, from any eastern or seaboard cities to Rates westward. Pittsburg, higher than the gross rates charged or collected by the same route from same points to any point west of Pittsburg; nor shall the said Pennsylvania railroad company at any time charge or collect rates on any description of freights from Pittsburg to Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York or other seaboard cities, higher than the gross rates that may be charged by the same route from any point west of Pittsburg to the same points, on the same description of property. The local rates from Pittsburg Local rates. or Philadelphia to stations on the line of the Pennsylvania railroad, shall at no time exceed the gross rates charged through between Philadelphia and Pittsburg; nor shal! local rates between any two stations on the road between Philadelphia and Pittsburg, exceed the through rates as made from time to time under the provisions of this act, nor shall the rates charged to any local points exceed those charged to any point of greater distance in the same direction from the place of shipment: And further, All shippers of western products, under through bills Privileges of of lading, from any point west of Pittsburg, by river to Pitts- shippers. burg, to the seaboard cities, shall have the privilege of disposing of their property at Pittsburg, by giving timely notice, before rates. Liable to state tax. its arrival at that point, to the transfer agents of the Pennsyl vania railroad company, and by delivering up their through bills of lading, thus releasing the Pennsylvania railroad company from all liability on account thereof. If the property is not sold at Pittsburg, the owner, consignee or shipper of said property shall have the right to deliver the same to the transfer agency of the Pennsylvania railroad company at Pittsburg, and forward the same, within ten days after its arrival at Pittsburg, under the conditions and rates of the original through bill of lading. SECTION 3. That the Pennsylvania railroad company shall be liable to taxation for all state purposes, and the said company shall pay the same rate of taxation which is now or may here. after be imposed by any general law operating upon all other railroad companies incorporated by this commonwealth. The semi-annual instalments of the sum of thirteen millions five hundred and seventy thousand dollars, ($13,570,000,) and the balance of the said debt and interest so to be paid into the state treasury as is herein provided, are hereby pledged to, and the same shall be applied only to the payment and extinguishment only to payment of the principal and interest of the funded debt of this commonwealth, and to no other purpose whatsoever. To be applied of state debt. Other roads to be aided. Mode of. SECTION 4. That for the purpose of developing the resources of the state, the Pennsylvania railroad company is hereby authorized and required to expend the sum of eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($850,000) in aid to the Chartiers Valley railroad company; the Pittsburg and Steubenville railroad company; the Fayette County railroad company, (between Greensburg and the Youghiogheny river;) the West Pennsylvania railroad company, (between Blairsville and Butler;) the Ebensburg and Cresson railroad company; the Bedford railroad company, (between Hopewell and Bedford ;) the Tyrone and Clearfield railroad company, and the Phillipsburg and Waterford railroad com pany, (between Tyrone and Brookville ;) the Tyrone and Lock Haven railroad company; the Mifflin and Centre County railroad company, (between Lewistown and Milroy ;) the Chambersburg and Allegheny railroad company, (between Chambersburg and the point of connection with the Bedford railroad, near Hopewell;) or their successors or assigns, in sums proportioned to their respective lengths between the above designated points, by purchasing their bonds at their par value, respectively, from said companies, payable in twenty years, with interest, payable semi-annually, secured by a first mortgage created for the purpose on their property, real and personal, and franchises acquired and to be acquired; and the said companies are hereby respectively authorized and empowered to create and issue such bonds, and secure the payment thereof by such mortgages, by and with the consent of a majority of their respective stockholders, present at a meeting to be called for that purpose, of which notice shall be given, as provided by their charters or by-laws, respectively; said bonds, and the mortgages given to secure the same, shall not exceed in amount the sum required for the cost of the superstructure of bridges, the rails, cross-ties, chairs and spikes, and laying the track of the said roads, respectively; and the proceeds of all the said bonds so secured, shall be exclusively applied to the said purposes; and the said purchases of bonds satisfied. SECTION 5. That if any stockholder or stockholders of any Remedy for railroad, canal or slackwater navigation companies shall be dis- stockholders obsatisfied with, or object to any of the provisions of this act, then jecting or disit shall and may be lawful for any such stockholder or stockholders, within six months after the passage of this act, to apply by petition to the court of common pleas of the county in which the chief office of the said companies may respectively be held, to appoint three disinterested persons to estimate and appraise the damage, if any, done to such stockholder or stockholders, and whose award, or that of a majority of them, when confirmed by the said court, shall be final and conclusive; and the person so appointed shall also appraise the share or shares of said stockholders in the said company at the full market value thereof, without regard to any depreciation in consequence of the passage of this act; and the said company may, at its election, either pay to the said holder the amount of damages so found, or the value of the stock so ascertained; and upon payment of the value of the stock as aforesaid, the said stockholders shall transfer the stock so held by him to said company, to be disposed of by the directors of said company, or be retained by them for the benefit of the remaining stockholders. And all Repeal. laws inconsistent with the provisions of this act, be and the same are hereby repealed. ELISHA W. DAVIS, Speaker of the House of Representatives. ROBT. M. PALMER, Speaker of the Senate. APPROVED-The seventh day of March, Anno Domini one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one. A. G. CURTIN. Preamble. No. 101. AN ACT To change the name of the Sunbury and Erie Railroad Company, and to facilitate the completion of a Railroad from Sunbury to Erie. WHEREAS, The Sunbury and Erie railroad company have made application to this General Assembly for the passage of an act to change the name of the said corporation, so that the same shall hereafter be called and known as the Philadelphia and Erie railroad company: And whereas, The said company have been unable to dispose of their bonds for three million five hundred thousand dollars, made by authority of the act for the sale of the state canals, approved the twenty-first of April, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, for the purpose of raising money to complete the construction of their railroad; the payment of which said bonds, as well as their bonds for the same amount now in the sinking fund, and owned by the commonwealth, was intended to be secured by the mortgage for seven millions of dollars, executed in trust for that purpose, recorded in the office for the recording of deeds for the city and county of Philadelphia, and deposited for safe keeping in the office of the state treasurer; and by reason of the fact that the said bonds cannot be disposed of, the work on the said railroad has been suspended, and the said company are unable further to prosecute the same, or to pay the interest on their said debt to the commonwealth: And whereas, In case of a foreclosure of the said mortgage, and a judicial sale of the said work in its present condition, an incumbrance of six hundred thousand dollars existing thereon, being a lien for work, labor and materials, will take precedence of the claim of the state, and is required by law to be paid prior to and in preference thereof, and will be likely to absorb the entire proceeds of such sale, whereby the said indebtedness to the state, represented by the said bonds for three million five hundred thousand dollars, would be wholly lost, and it is important to the public interests that this legislature should adopt such measures as will prevent the sale and sacrifice of the said work, and secure the ultimate payment of the said debt: And whereas, The completion and equipment of the said railroad are necessary for the purposes last aforesaid, and to that end, and for the purpose of paying and discharging the said lien for six hundred thousand dollars, it is necessary that the said mortgage for seven million of dollars shall be cancelled, and that the said company be authorized to issue other bonds, and secure the payment of the same by a first mortgage, and it is expedient that such authority be conferred on the said company upon the terms expressed in the provisions of this act; therefore, for the purposes aforesaid, and to secure the completion and equipment of the said railroad, and the ultimate payment of the said debt of three million five hundred thousand dollars to the state, SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That the corporate name and title of the Sunbury and Erie railroad Change of name. company be and the same is hereby changed to the Philadelphia and Erie railroad company, by which name and title the business of the said company shall hereafter be managed and conducted, with the same effect as if the name thereof had not been changed. ditions. SECTION 2. That the said the Philadelphia and Erie railroad Authorized to iscompany be and it is hereby authorized to execute and issue, sue bonds. under its corporate seal, five thousand bonds, not exceeding in amount the aggregate sum of one million of pounds, sterling Amount and conmoney of Great Britain, or five millions of dollars, lawful money of the United States, any number or all of which may be issued for two hundred pounds each, sterling money aforesaid, and any number or all of which for one thousand dollars each, payable in twenty years from the date thereof; the said bonds shall bear interest at the rate of six per centum per annum, payable semi-annually, and shall not be subject to taxation; and the said bonds, or the proceeds thereof, shall be used by the said company for the purpose of completing and equipping the said rail- Purposes of. road, and for the payment of debts contracted concerning the same, and of the scrip issued by the said company under the act of thirteenth of April, one thousand eight hundred and sixty; and as security for the payment of the principal and interest of the said bonds, the said company is hereby authorized to exeeute, in trust, under its corporate seal, a mortgage of the whole May execute line of its railroad, finished, unfinished and to be finished, from mortgage. Sunbury to the harbor of Erie, and its appurtenances, including all locomotives and cars which may at any time be placed thereon, together with all its real estate, rights, liberties, privi leges and franchises; which said mortgage shall be delivered to To be delivered the trustee or trustees therein named, and recorded in the seve- to trustees. ral counties in which the property therein described, or any part thereof, may be situate, and shall thereupon be and remain Shall remain the the first mortgage on all the property therein described, until first mortgage. fully satisfied, except as to that part of the road of the said com |